Breastfeeding at discharge and in the third stage of the Kangaroo Mother Care among hospitalized preterm infants.
Ana Carolina Silva Dos Santos, Elenice Valentim Carmona, Clara Fróes de Oliveira Sanfelice and 3 others
PMID 38899929WHAT IT FOUND
At discharge, 136 of 186 preterm infants in a kangaroo care unit were exclusively breastfed.
Younger mothers, higher education, higher birth weight, and only human milk during the stay were linked with more exclusive breastfeeding.
Key findings
01At hospital discharge, 136 of 186 infants were exclusively breastfed; at the first follow-up, 125 of 169; at the last follow-up, 115 of 169.
02When other recorded factors were considered at discharge, younger maternal age, higher maternal education, higher birth weight, and exclusive human milk during the kangaroo unit stay were associated with greater chance of exclusive breastfeeding.
03At the last follow-up, younger maternal age, exclusive human milk during the kangaroo unit stay, and first suckling at the breast in the kangaroo unit were associated with greater chance of exclusive breastfeeding.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study looked back at hospital records, so it can show what was linked to breastfeeding but not prove what caused it. It was done in one baby-friendly hospital with a kangaroo unit, so results may not apply to units without continuous mother-infant rooming-in. Some infants did not complete follow-up: 12 returned to conventional care before discharge and 17 did not return for the third stage, so later feeding data are not from all 186 infants. The data depended on the availability and quality of medical records.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that giving only human milk during the kangaroo stay causes exclusive breastfeeding. The study looked back at records and only reports associations; infants who received formula may have had other clinical or family differences.